Hydraulic suction head for cleaning water reservoirs



June 19, 1962 c. E. BIRDSALL 3,039,122

HYDRAULIC SUCTION HEAD FOR CLEANING WATER RESERVOIRS Filed May 16, 19601 N VE NTOR ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,039,122 HYDRAULKC SUCTIONHEAD FOR CLEANING WATER RESERVOIRS Clarence E. Birdsall, Rte. 2, Box2747, Loomis, Calif.

Filed May 16, 1960, Ser. No. 29,526 1 Claim. (Cl. 15-1.7)

This invention is directed to, and it is a major object to provide, anovel hydraulic suction head for cleaning under-water surfaces--such 'asthe botto. of a water reservoir, and which may be a swimming pool,settling tank, or the like.

Another important object of this invention is to provide a hydraulicsuction head which includes an internally mounted but depending brushadapted to sweep the underwater surface being cleaned; the head beingformed so that the brush is not disposed in the infiowing water, andwhich would tend to clog such brush with dirt, algae, debris, etc.carried by such infiowing water.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a practical, reliable,and durable hydraulic suction head for cleaning water reservoir, and onewhich will be exceedingly effective for the purpose for which it isdesigned.

These objects are accomplished by means of such structure and relativearrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the followingspecification and claim.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the hydraulic suction head.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged front elevation, mainly in section and partlybroken away.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary cross section on line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

Referring now more particularly to th drawings, and to the characters ofreference marked thereon, the novel hydraulic suction head comprises anelongated, downwardly opening, transversely extending suction housing,indicated generally at 1; such housing, which is closed at the ends,including a front wall 2, a rear Wall 3, a central top portion 4, andoutwardly and downwardly sloping top portions 5 which extend from thecentral top portion 4 to the ends of said housing 1.

At the ends thereof the suction housing 1 is formed with upstandingcages 6, each having a wheel 7 journaled therein; the wheels 7 extendingbelow the cages 6 for engagement with the under-water surface beingcleaned. Such wheels also support the suction housing 1 so that the openbottom thereof runs adjacent but in clearance relation to such surface.

An elongated handle 8 extends at an upward and rearward angle from theback of the suction housing 1 centrally of its ends; such handle beingadjustably secured between transversely spaced quadrants 9 fixed on andprojecting from the rear wall 3.

An elongated, inverted, U-shaped channel 10' extends in the suctionhousing 1 from end to end thereof and in symmetrically spaced relationbetween the front wall 2 and rear wall 3; such downwardly openingchannel terminating at the bottom in the same horizontal plane as thebottom of the suction housing 1.

The U-shaped channel 10 is of constant height from end to end thereof,and the end portions of such channel extend through the downwardly andoutwardly inclined sloping portions 5 of the suction housing 1, asclearly shown in FIG. 1. The adjacent wall of the wheel cages 6 form endclosures for both the housing 1 and the channel 10all in rigid unitaryrelation.

As the U-shaped channel It is much narrower from wall to wall in a frontto rear direction than the housing 1, and as such channel 10 occupies. asymmetrical position in such housing, there is formed-in thelatter-intake throats 11 on both sides of said channel. Additionally,the height of channel 10 is less than the maximum height of housing 1 sothat the throats 11 merge above channel 10 below the central top portion4 of said housing. A

5 neck 12 is mounted on and upstands from such central top portion 4 ofthe housing 1, being in communication with the latter and serving thepurpose hereinafter described.

A relatively thin but full-length bristle brush 13 is disposed in thechannel 10, the brush including a longitudinal supporting rigid back 14in which the bristles at their upper ends are clamped, and which isconsiderably narrower than the channel 10, as clearly shown in FIG. 3.This back above the bristles provides a longitudinal passage for thereception of a horizontal rod 15 in fitting and transversely swingablerelation, and which rod extends in the channel 10 from end to endthereof adjacent but short of its top. The rod 15 slidably projectsthrough and is supported adjacent its ends in the ends of the channel 10and the housing 1, as shown in FIG. 2, so that said rod may be readilyengaged and withdrawn from the brush by longitudinal movement of the rodin one direction. The brush is thus removably mounted for to and froswinging movement in channelltl, and such brush is dimensioned so thatit depends below the bottom of the housing 1 a distance sufiicient toride on and sweep the under-water surface 16 being cleaned.

When the suction head is being drawn in the direction indicated by thearrow in FIG. 3, the brush occupies the position shown in such figure,but when the head is reversed and moved in. the other direction, thebrush likewise reverses in its position. In other words, the brushalways engages the under-water surface 16 with a dragging and thus mosteffective sweeping action.

A debris trap, indicated generally at 17, is disposed directly above theneck 12, and such trap includes a cylindrical container 18 having a top19 and a bottom 20. The container 18 is threaded to the bottom 20 asshown, and to the end that such container 18 may be detached for thepurpose of cleaning out debris which accumulates therein.

A vertical tube 21 extends centrally through the bottom 20, projectingboth above and below the same. The downwardly projecting portion of thetube 21 is threaded into the neck 12, while the upwardly projectingportion of said tube terminates at its upper end in container 18 asubstantial distance from the top 19.

Within the container 18 the upwardly projecting portion of tube 21 isfitted with an umbrella grid, indicated at 22. The umbrella grid .22comprises a plurality of inverted, substantially half-circle deflectorfingers 23 fixed at their inner ends to a common center point 2.4. Fromthe center point 24 the deflector fingers 2&3 radiate a distance greaterthan the radius of neck 12 and certain of such fingers terminate abovethe upper end of said tube 21. However, a number of the fingers includedownwardly extending shanks 25 which are fixed at their lower ends tothe outside of the tube 21 so as to support the umbrella grid 22.

The top 19 of the debris trap 17 is formed with an upstanding neck 26which communicates with the interior of container 18. The neck :26 iscoupled to a hydraulic suction hose 27 by means of a fitting 28. Thesuction hose 27 leads to, and is connected with, a suction pump (notshown).

In use of the above described hydraulic suction head it is worked backand forth on the under-water surface 16 by means of the handle 8, andduring such operation water is drawn into and flows upwardly through theintake throats 11, thence passes into the central part of the housing 1directly below the top portion 4, and next flows upwardly through neck'12 and tube 21 into the debris trap 17. As the water so flows, dirt,algae, and other debris, as swept from the surface 16 by the brush 16,is entrained in and carried with such Water into the debris trap 17, andfrom whence the water is drawn out through the suction hose 27.

As the water passes through the debris trap 17, any rocks, metallicpieces, or the like which are of a size to cause possible damage to thesuction pump are caught by the untbrella grid 22' and deflecteddownwardly in the container 18, coming to rest on the bottom 20; thisfor the reason that the velocity in the container 18 is less than in thehose 27.

:By reason of the fact that the brush 13 is carried in the channel 10,and through which no water flows, the chance of the brush 13 beingfouled with dirt, algae, or debris is greatly minimized; substantiallyall of such maerial being carried aboutor flowing upwardly outside ofthe channel in the intake throats 1-1.

The described suction head provides a very eflioient device for thecleaning of an under-water surface in a reservoir, and a device whichcan be readily and conveniently manipulated by the operator standing atthe edge of the reservoir and working the suction head by means of theelognated handle 8. Further, the debris trap 17 has substantial utilityas a safety device to prevent suction pump damage.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that there hasbeen produced such a device as will substantially fulfill the objects ofthe invention, as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do 4 not form a departure from the spiritof the invention, as defined by the appended claim.

Having thus described the invention, the following is claimed as new anduseful, and upon which Letters Patent are desired: r

A suction head comprising an elongated downwardly opening suctionhousing, said housing being closed at its ends and having front and rearwalls, a central horizontal top wall portion and outwardly anddownwardly inclined top wall portions extending between the centralportion and said ends, a suction conduit connected in communication withsaid central top wall portion, and an elongated downwardly openingstraight-topped brush-containing channel mounted in the housingintermediate the front and rear walls and in spaced relation thereto;the top of the channel being spaced below the central top portion of thehousing but above the lower ends of said inclined top wall portions, andthe end portions of the channel extending to the ends of the housingthrough the corresponding inclined top wall portions of the housing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS928,982 Kindel July 27, 1909 1,099,560 Matchette June 9, 1914 1,363,860Fetters et al Dec. 28, 1920 1,516,359 Tideman Nov. 18, 1924 1,884,044'Martinet Oct. 25, 1932 1,970,290 Ernzer Aug. 14, 1934 1,971,493Leathers Aug. 28, 1934 2,141,811 Everson Dec. 27, 1938 2,617,138 Brownet al Nov. 11, 1952 2,669,358 Young Feb. 16, 1954 2,900,084 Zabel Aug.18, 1959

